US Army Suicides Expected to Hit a New High This Year

US Army Suicides Expected to Hit a New High This Year,Suicides in the US Army will hit a new high this year while US Army Chief Admiral Michael Mullen confesses that soldiers are suffering mental trauma due to Iraq and Afghanistan war.
The findings, released as President Barack Obama inches toward a decision to send up to 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, show the number of active-duty suicides so far in 2009 has already matched last year’s record of 140 deaths. <> “We are almost certainly going to end the year higher than last year,” General Peter Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff, told a Pentagon briefing. “This is horrible, and I do not want to downplay the significance of these numbers in any way.” Another 71 soldiers committed suicide after being taken off active duty in 2009 — nearly 25 percent more than the end-year total for 2008. Some had returned home only weeks before taking their own lives.
After the incident of Fort Hood and increasing depression among troops, tough mental training courses are being initiated.Link